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Election Advisory No. 2012-07

Summary

This memorandum is to advise you of certain procedures affecting the voter registration lists used in the primary elections, added by the federal court orders in the redistricting litigation.    

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division (“the federal court”), issued an order in the federal redistricting case (“federal court order”) on February 28, 2012, adding to the statutory election day procedures for the primary elections by requiring notations to the list of registered voters to indicate convention attendance (affecting the primary and runoff primary lists) to limit persons from participating in activities of more than one political party.  This is in addition to the current law requiring notations showing voting records for lists in the primary runoff.  These notations are based on information supplied by the parties who hold primaries; specifically, the parties will deliver to the county voter registrar lists of convention attendees who subscribed to the Oath of Affiliation.  The requirement does not apply to parties who choose nominees by convention.  During early voting and on election day, a voter who thinks a party notation is incorrect may counter this by taking the Oath of Affiliation (PDF), following the procedures in the enclosed Insert for the Handbook for Election Judges and Clerks.  See Election Code Sections 162.007, 172.125. 

General Sequence of Events

• County Voter Registrars must provide registered voter data to the party chairs for use at conventions
  • The lists must include voters who applied for voter registration no later than 30 days prior to the actual convention date in that county. 
  • Format for the registered voter data may include
    • Two standard voter registration lists; OR
    • One standard voter registration list, along with a sign-in sheet which contains the minimum of a signature line, space for the VUID number, oath of affiliation at the top of each page; OR
    • Any format agreed to amongst the county voter registration officer, the county elections officer, and the county party chairs.

• Primary-holding parties must provide a written record of voters who took the oath of affiliation at their conventions
• Lists of persons who took the oath must be delivered to the county voter registrar immediately after the convention (recommend no later than 3 days after the Republican Party Convention and 5 days after the Democratic Convention).
• County Voter Registrar may request information from marked registration list in parties’ possession as needed to correctly identify voters.

• Primary election
• Election officials use and mark two registration lists (current law);
• Lists of voter registration must indicate voters who participated in conventions of primary-holding parties (court order) (or have a separate list of convention attendees, if time doesn’t allow for electronic upload into voter registration database); and
• One marked list must be delivered to parties after election day (current law).

• Runoff Primary election
• Polling place officials use and mark one registration list (current law).
• Lists of registered voters must indicate voters who voted in party primary (current law) and voters who participated in conventions of primary-holding parties (court order).

Please also refer to the Frequently Asked Questions and the Election Judges and Clerks Handbook Insert for New Party Convention List Procedures regarding the above processes.

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